Guest Commentary: Planning for an emergency

Many people living in Ramona are aware of the Cedar and Witch Creek fires. These recent firestorms and the disorganized evacuation and aftermaths were a wake-up call for everyone and should be used as a reminder to all people to be better prepared for the next impending emergency.

But what kind of an emergency should we prepare for?

Probably the first thing that comes to mind are emergencies caused by the forces of nature such as fire, earthquakes, floods and hurricane force wind, resulting in temporary loss of power, water, medical aid and other services. But what about emergencies caused by the actions of man such as invasion by outside forces creating armed conflict, or an electro-magnetic attack that disables the electric and communication grid for a long period of time, or perhaps from unstable forces from within our society such as economic breakdown or domestic terrorism leading to insurrection, political unrest, martial law, anarchy and strikes creating food riots, looting and widespread chaos?

Many people don’t want to think about the worst case scenario, or maybe they have been programmed to believe that government will always be there to take care of every crisis. But the false belief that government will help is precisely why many people are unprepared.

So the best way to be prepared for any emergency is to imagine what you would do to protect yourself and your family if there was nobody to help except yourself, because that’s exactly what will happen in the event of another major crisis. When you call, there will be no response — no firemen, no policemen, no paramedics, no ambulance, no water, no food and no other help, either because the authorities are overwhelmed with other emergencies, roads are closed, or help can’t be reached because communications have been lost.

Maybe the water district’s water tanks are empty because there is no electricity to pump water up the hill or the primary pipeline has broken — or the entire region is out of operation. Thus there is no water to drink, to wash or bathe, to use for firefighting or to flush the toilet. There is no electricity to cook food or to stay warm or for fire fighting, or to connect to the Internet or other appliances; or to charge your new electric car or your cell phone. There is no gasoline because the electric gas pumps don’t work. There is no food in the stores because of strikes or shortages, or trucks can’t deliver goods. Refrigerated food spoils during prolonged electrical outages.

Once you realize that you are on your own and can no longer depend on government to take care of your needs, what would you do?

Ramona Tea’d (Taxed Enough Already) will hold an emergency preparedness seminar at the Ramona Town Hall on July 23. Doors will open at 10 a.m. and the program will begin at 10:30 a.m. A basic home preparedness course will be presented and provide a take-home brochure for each attendee. Individual solar powered backup generators with inverters and batteries will be discussed.

There will be a lunch break at noon. Lunch will be provided as part of the program. At 12:45 the afternoon program will begin, presenting a one-hour program on economic survival during troubling times and will discuss the possibility of solar flare disruption of the electrical grid.

Don’t miss this important preparedness seminar, all provided for a $30 donation (no credit cards, please). Make reservations early as seating is limited. For more information, see www.ramonatead.com or call 760-789-9521 or 760-390-0199.

Darrell Beck is a member of Ramona Tea’d.